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CHAPTER4
Tristan
The sun shonein my eyes, preventing me from adequately seeing Joseph. He was on his fifth or sixth lap. The swim team at his school noticed he was fast in the water and scooped him up. As long as it didn’t distract from his baseball, I didn’t mind.
One day, he would be on the New Boston Red Sox. Of course, I still had to bring professional baseball back, but I was working on it. After the economic crash, they canceled all professional sports. Damn shame. Years later and football was back and doing well. Now it was time for my favorite sport to shine.
“Uncle Ethan!” Joseph jumped out of the pool.
I turned to my left, and sure enough, my brother-in-law was right there. Well, ex-in-law. As a widow, I didn’t have in-laws anymore. The thought of my wife made my stomach sour. No amount of time would heal that pain.
“Hey buddy, nice swimming.” Ethan high-fived Joseph. “Your dad let you take a break from baseball?”
“No, I gotta do both and keep my grades up. It’s bogus.” Joseph rolled his eyes.
“You want to get into the best schools, right?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yes, Dad, but I’m in second grade, and we are elites. I could buy the school.” His kid logic never ceased to amaze me.
“Uh… speaking of being elites. Joey, can you give your dad and me a sec?” Ethan chewed his lip.
Joseph nodded and dived back into the pool.
My servant CeCe must have seen Ethan because she came outside with a tray of whiskey for both of us. When my brother-in-law was around, drinking was a must. Especially after the week he had. Losing his grandfather was rough on him. The funeral was filled with tears and business deals. I still couldn’t understand why people thought funerals were a good time to discuss a merger or, worse, a loan. Ethan handled it by getting blackout drunk and puking in his hot tub.
How he was functioning today was beyond me. I hit twenty-eight last month, and a hangover now lasted days. Part of me expected him to turn away the whiskey. Nope, he downed it and asked for more.
“What’s up?” I sat down on a nearby lounger. Ethan paced near me, making me nervous. I knew he was upset about his gramps, but this seemed excessive.
“Gramps. I mean, what is he thinking? He can’t be serious. Bro, what am I gonna do?” He was talking as if the man was still alive.
I knew the feeling. After I lost my wife, I would still think of her in the present. There were still times I forgot she was gone. I would turn a corner and expect to see her. Shortly after she passed, I even called out, asking if she saw my keys.
“You own a few law firms. You gotta do something.” Ethan’s voice came out as if he was begging. He never begged.
“Slow down and tell me what the fuck is going on.” I looked over to make sure Joseph didn’t hear me swear. He was doing his laps while Diego, one of my servants, timed him.
“Sorry, bro.” He pulled a piece of paper from his suit jacket and handed it to me.
I scanned the handwritten letter, trying to decipher it quickly. The words Ethan and married stuck out. I stopped and reread the letter. The whole time, Ethan paced and chewed on his lip.
Once I read it for the third time, I placed it on the table. Ethan stared down at me. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at the paper. He was waiting for me to reply.
“Haha, that’s gold.” I burst out laughing. I tried to contain the laughter, but I couldn’t. His gramps told him for years to find a nice girl and stop getting tattoos. In the afterlife, he found a way to get Ethan a wife.
“Dude, stop laughing. This isn’t just about me. All the Moore money will be donated.” Ethan started counting with his fingers. “My father, me, Joseph, and probably you. We will get nothing.”
“Four people. Take away the fact that Joseph and I don’t need a dime, and that’s two. You guys will be fine. You can stay here.” I waved my hand toward the mansion.
Even though Ethan wasn’t my brother-in-law anymore, he was family. As funny as I thought his Gramps' clause was, I wouldn’t let anything happen to him or his dad, Mitchell. My ex-father-in-law was a good man and did everything for Joseph.
“I don’t want a handout. Not to mention all the billions of dollars that would go to New Boston, it would crash the economy again.” Ethan’s voice quivered at the word billions. I didn’t blame him, that was a lot of money.
“Crash the economy? It would help build the country.” America had ten countries since the crash. There were fifty states, but now they divided themselves to create their own countries. New Boston was the most prosperous out of all of them. It thrived because the elite put so much money into it. Billions would help. Economics was always my favorite subject in school. Part of what helped an economy grow was taking care of the bottom class. They thrive, and we thrive.
“Stop with the economics lesson. We donate enough to the Cartright foundation.” Ethan grabbed another glass of whiskey from my servant and downed it in one gulp.
The Cartrights started a non-profit to help the homeless. They were building apartments and creating jobs. It was making a population that was ready for baseball. Our country was rebuilding.
